Best Crib Soother

If you’re in a hurry and just want to find out what the best crib soother is, I’d recommend the Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projection and Melodies Soother.

When our son was born, we were overjoyed. Adrenaline carried us through those first few sleepless nights. After a little while though, we did want to find a way to get some sleep. Our crib soother turned out to be a life saver. It didn’t guarantee that our son would fall asleep quickly every night, but it did make a BIG difference.

In this article, I am breaking down the best crib soothers, and in the end, I’ll choose the winner.

Here are the crib soothers I will be reviewing:

• Bubzi Co Sleep Owl
• Tiny Love Meadow Days Soothe ‘n Groove Baby Mobile
• Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projection and Melodies Soother
• Hatch Baby Rest Night Light, Sound Machine and Time-to-Rise
• Cloud b Twilight Turtle Plush Nightlight Projector

What Is A Crib Soother?

A crib soother is a device that you attach to your baby’s crib. Generally, these devices make your baby feel good, and help them get to sleep. In short, they are a great way to soothe your baby.

There are a few different types of crib soothers. There are mobiles, projectors, and screens. Each of these types can work well, depending on your preferences and taste.

A lot of parents will rock their babies to sleep in the beginning. At some point though, it can be nice if your little one learns to fall asleep in the crib instead of in your arms. A crib soother can be a great way to help with that transition.

What To Look For When Buying A Crib Soother

There are a number of things to consider when you go to buy a crib soother:

• Songs/sounds. Does it play songs, white noise, or both? Songs can be entertaining, but sometimes white noise is better for sleep. It’s also worth noting just how many tunes it can play. If a crib soother only plays the same three lullabies, it might get repetitive after a while.
• Remote control. Can it be controlled from outside the room? This can be a really nice feature since it allows you to turn it off without entering the nursery. The last thing you want to do is to risk waking a sleeping baby.
• Plug in or batteries. Depending on the set up in your nursery, you might be able to plug it in or you might need one with batteries.
• Sleep mode. This is a must-have feature in my opinion, since it ensures the device will shut off after your little one drifts off to sleep.
• Volume control. This is pretty important too. If it doesn’t have volume control, it might end up being too loud for your baby.

My Top Crib Soother Reviews

Out of all of the crib soothers out there, I have narrowed it down to my top five. I tried to include a few different types of crib soothers in the list below. One thing to point out is that some of these come with a few different options in terms of color or animal. So, if you like the features but don’t like the look, click on the image to see what other options are available.

Bubzi Co Sleep Owl

This one is bound to help your little one get to sleep.

The Sleep Owl plays music for 30 minutes and then shuts off. This should be plenty of time to drift off.

It plays 10 different lullabies, which provides a nice amount of variety. The volume can be set to three different levels, so you can get it just right.

It also has a soft night light that can project a colorful galaxy of starts onto the wall or ceiling. This is fun to look at, but also provides a little light in the room. This can be nice as a parent when you’re trying to leave without bumping into anything.

It’s easily transportable. So, it works with a crib, but can also go on your stroller.

The battery pack is removable. So, the sleep owl is easy to wash whenever it gets a little dirty.

Some parents report that the batteries drain quickly. So, you will need to stock up on AAAs if you plan to use this every night.

Tiny Love Meadow Days Soothe ‘N Groove Baby Mobile

This mobile can be both entertaining and soothing.

An innovative design means that this one will grow along with your child. It starts out as a mobile for the crib. But, it can transform into a music box that your toddler can carry around when ready.

With 18 tunes across six different musical categories, your little one will have plenty of variety.

While this can be used during the day to entertain, it also has a soft glowing light for naps and bedtime.

It comes with a sleep mode feature, which means it will shut off after 40 minutes. This is probably a little on the long side, as some babies will fall asleep sooner than that. If you’re baby is one of those, count yourself lucky!

Some parents report that this mobile makes a slight clicking noise as the animals turn. This can get a bit annoying for parents, but babies don’t seem to mind.

Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projection And Melodies Soother

Summer Infant really delivers with this one. In fact, it’s my favorite crib soother.

This one comes with five meditative songs and nature sounds. While lullabies and songs are wonderful, it’s nice to have the option to play white noise as well. This is often more conducive to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, this one has three different auto shut off options. You can choose 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes, depending on how long you expect your baby to take to drift off. Some parents wish that it also had a regular play mode that would allow it to stay on past 45 minutes. In my experience though, 45 minutes is a pretty good length of time for a soother to stay on.

It projects a starry sky onto the walls and ceiling. You can set it to blue, green, or amber. Or, you can have it show all three colors.

The volume can be set to three different levels, though some parents report it’s still fairly loud even on the lowest level.

This one is also priced at the lower end of the range, making it a bargain.

Hatch Baby Rest Night Light, Sound Machine And Time-To-Rise

While not technically a crib soother, this is a really interesting device that serves the same function and then some.

This is a great night light for kids and parents alike. It’s perfect for those late night feedings in the early days.

You can customize the color and brightness to your preferences.

It’s also a sound machine. So, you can play white noise to lull your baby to sleep. You can choose for a variety of different sounds and volume levels.

Sound, volume, color, and brightness can all be programmed, adjusted manually or controlled with your smartphone (via Bluetooth). The smartphone control is key in case you ever want to turn this off without going into your little one’s room.

Perhaps the feature that really sets this one apart though is the time to rise alert. This feature is most useful once your child is at least 18 months old. Basically, the color can be set to change at a certain time to let your to toddler know that it’s ok to get up. So, instead of bursting into your bedroom at 5am on a Saturday morning, your toddler can learn to stay in bed until, say 7am.

This device plugs into the wall so there is no need to get batteries. Some parents do report that the plug can fall out fairly easily.

The biggest issue is that the programming interface can be a little clunky. However, this is more of a minor nuisance than a deal breaker.

Cloud B Twilight Turtle Plush Nightlight Projector

This one has a few small touches that make it stand out.

Like some of the others listed in this post, this one projects a starry night sky on the the walls and ceiling. What sets it apart though is that it includes 8 real constellations. While this might not matter for a newborn, it’s a really cool way to teach your toddler about the stars.

You can choose one of three soothing colors to project, or set it to cycle through automatically.

One thing to point out is that this one doesn’t play music or sounds like the others on this list. So, while the projection is really cool, you may end up buying a separate sound machine.

A 45 minute timer ensures that it will shut off. So, it will be dark when your child is sleeping. Since this one doesn’t play sounds, 45 minutes seems like a good length of time to stay on.

Final Thoughts

Getting a baby to learn to sleep is one of the biggest challenges of early parenthood. Any one of the crib soothers included in this post has the potential to make things just a little bit easier. That said, in my opinion, the best crib soother is the Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projection and Melodies Soother.